


Aurora

by cathybites



Category: due South
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-23
Updated: 2011-04-23
Packaged: 2017-10-18 10:01:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cathybites/pseuds/cathybites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for <span><a href="http://highwaymiles.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://highwaymiles.livejournal.com/"><b>highwaymiles</b></a></span>, prompt #51: <i>RayK and Fraser are lying on the hood of his car, watching the northern lights</i>.  er, except maybe I fudged some things around a bit and didn't follow the prompt exactly.  >_<</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aurora

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to my dearest German LAMMO, darlita, who was completely unhelpful when it came to the title, but made up for it with all her other help. and to cjmarlowe, who was lucky enough to be the nearest Canadian when I had questions about the northern lights.
> 
> Also! The lovely zabira did reading of this fic, and the fabulous cybel created a podbook for it: [[here](http://zabira.livejournal.com/30532.html)]

Ray hadn't believed it at first but Fraser did indeed have an actual running automobile, and not just a snowmobile or a robotic dogsled or some other crazy Canadian vehicle. It was a beat-up Chevy truck, the dark blue paint barely covering up the rust spots, but it had four wheels and an engine and a radio that picked up nothing but static, even on the clear days. Which was fine by Ray because he wasn't particularly interested in what might pass for music in Northern Bumfuck, Canada.

And even though he couldn't lie down on the hood to stare up at the sky, that was also okay because the truck had one of those old stepside beds, plenty of room for both him and Fraser to stretch out, get comfortable. Of course, Fraser, being the way he was, had hesitated and questioned and said things like, "It's not that I don't trust your judgment, Ray; I simply do not see why it's imperative for us to do so." To which Ray said things like, "Fraser, maybe I just want to look at the Northern Whachamacallits and it's _imperative_ that I do so in a truck with my best friend." Fraser had looked remarkably pleased at that, like Ray yelling at him was the nicest thing that had ever happened to him, but then he had shook his head slightly and said, "But I don't see why we couldn't--" Ray could only imagine what the expression on his face had been, but it was enough for Fraser to shut his mouth, nod, and climb in next to Ray, lying down as stiff as a corpse. Didn't matter, though, not to Ray, because for the first time in forever, he felt like he could finally just relax and _think_.

Sprawled out in the bed of Fraser's truck, Ray closed his eyes and for just a moment, it was like he was eighteen all over again, lying back on the hood of the Goat and watching the stars overhead, thinking about what the future held for him. The truckbed was a little more cluttered - and it smelled vaguely of fish - but that same feeling was there, the excitement and dread, the thrill of uncertainty zinging through his veins. Ray's adventure was ending, his partnership with Fraser was ending (and, _dammit_ , he couldn't even _think_ about that in passing without everything inside seizing up and choking the breath out of him), everything that had become a part of him in the past two years was _ending_ and Ray needed to decide what to do next.

The problem, Ray thought as the sun slowly set, cooling the air that was settling around them, was that he sucked at making big decisions like this. When he was eighteen, it'd been easy - whichever road led him to Stella was the one he'd take. Stella had been everything back then, his guiding light, the map in his hand, the North Star he used to navigate through his life. He remembered the night of his high school graduation, driving with her out past the airport, out past the suburbs, past all of the stuff they'd ever known up until that point. He'd parked the car off some dirt road and they'd both climbed onto the hood, the metal warm beneath their bodies, Stella's breath warm against his neck. Ray had looked up at the stars scattered across the black of the sky and, at that moment, had known - had felt it deep in his _bones_ \- that he could go anywhere from that point on, be anyone, do anything.

He'd felt invincible, almost unstoppable, and when he'd looked over at Stella, her eyes were wide and bright, just the faintest trace of a smile on her lips, like she knew who he could be and who he would be. She'd looked at him like he was the king of the world - like he was the only thing that mattered in the entire world - and he'd made his decision then and there, smiling back and reaching out to take her hand in his--

\-- her large, callused hand --

Ray opened his eyes, blinking rapidly, and turned his head to find Fraser staring at him. Shit. He hadn't meant to do that - well, he kind of had but he'd planned on being smooth about it, making it a _move_ , not just some dumbass reflex. He stammered out an apology and made to pull his hand away, except...except...

Except Fraser was still staring at him, his eyes wide and bright, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips, and not letting go of Ray's hand. Fraser stared at him like a kid who'd just found out wishes really did come true, like Ray was the only person in the entire world who could make them come true. Fraser stared at him, that smile growing wider and brighter, like the sun reappearing over the horizon, and the look in his eyes warmed Ray like nothing had before, not since Stella.

And just like that, it dawned on Ray that he knew exactly what he wanted to do, where he needed to be. "Fraser," he began but Fraser shook his head, still smiling, and pressed a finger against Ray's lips. With a tug, he pulled Ray closer, until Ray was pressed along Fraser's side, all warm and comfortable and everything Ray hadn't known he'd wanted.

"Shh. Look, Ray. The Northern Whachamacallits," Fraser said, the laughter barely contained in his voice, and Ray jabbed him in the side, grinning at the noise Fraser made, then looked up to the sky, swaths of color dancing in the air and just beyond them, the North Star, shining brightly.


End file.
